As low Earth orbit (LEO) rapidly grows crowded, collision-avoidance maneuvers between SpaceX's Starlink satellites and Chinese satellites and space objects are surging, prompting calls for urgent international countermeasures.
The South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on the 23rd, citing Starlink data, that a report SpaceX submitted to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said Starlink satellites carried out a total of 148,696 collision-avoidance maneuvers from June 1 to Nov. 30 last year to avoid nearby objects.
According to the report, seven of the top 20 space objects that triggered Starlink satellite orbit adjustments during the period were classified as originating from China, and these accounted for a total of 3,732 orbit adjustments.
Starlink specifically cited the Honghu-2 satellite of Shanghai Lanjian Hongqing Technology as the most frequent source of problems. The satellite was launched in December 2023 aboard the Zhuque-2 Y-3 rocket and is known to operate at an altitude of about 460 km.
SCMP noted that as the satellite launch race centered on the United States and China intensifies, the number of satellites in low Earth orbit is rapidly increasing, and the added presence of space debris is structurally heightening the risk of collisions between satellites. In fact, on Dec. 9, one of the satellite formations launched as Kinetica-1 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China came as close as 200 meters to a Starlink satellite.
Such cases are expected to become more frequent. SpaceX, leveraging its reusable Falcon rockets, has rapidly increased commercial and military satellite launches and was reportedly operating more than 9,350 satellites as of late December last year. In addition, Blue Origin, founded by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, unveiled early this month a plan to deploy 5,400 satellites in low and medium Earth orbit for a communications network.
China, for its part, is accelerating the construction of a large satellite network with the government-led Guowang project and the Qianfan project spearheaded by Shanghai. China Satellite Network Group, the state-owned enterprise leading Guowang, placed more than 130 satellites into orbit from its first launch in Dec. 2024 through late last year, and set a goal of building a total of 13,000 satellites.
The Qianfan project, after its first launch in Aug. 2024, had 108 satellites confirmed deployed as of Oct. last year, and aims to launch more than 15,000 by 2030. SCMP said documents submitted late last year to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) by Chinese government agencies and private aerospace corporations indicated plans to launch more than 200,000 internet satellites in the future.
In this context, SpaceX said in documents submitted to the FCC that "consistent data sharing and reliable communications among operators are essential to prevent collisions," noting that "Chinese and Russian operators are often reluctant to share information."